via Music Radar
Now well into their fourth decade, few hip-hop artists have pushed the boundaries of what the genre can sound like quite like Cypress Hill. With their eleventh album, Dios Bendiga, the Los Angeles pioneers are shaking things up once more by returning to their Latino roots and releasing their first full-length album recorded entirely in Spanish.
At the heart of that journey is Eric ‘Bobo’ Correa, who joined Cypress Hill as a touring percussionist in 1994 and became an official member that year, before appearing on the more sonically subdued LP, Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom.
The son of legendary Latin jazz percussionist Willie Bobo and a former touring and studio percussionist with the Beastie Boys, Bobo has brought a distinctive approach to Cypress Hill, combining traditional percussion with electronic sampling.
On Dios Bendiga, that versatility has been particularly important. Recorded during an intense two-week creative period, the album sees Cypress Hill reconnect with their heritage while collaborating with artists including Mellow Man Ace, Alemán and Trueno.
For Bobo, the challenge was not simply to make a Spanish-language record, but to ensure that, beneath the new rhythms and influences, the album would still unmistakably sound like Cypress Hill.
We spoke to Bobo about his musical upbringing, the making of Dios Bendiga, his hybrid percussion setup, and why, after almost 40 years of playing, he still believes a musician should never stop learning.